Please alert the neighbors of a recent increase in Burglaries in the Maspeth area. The majority of these burglaries are front door entry/ rear bedroom. The burglaries are occurring from 1200 hours till 2000 hours on all days of the week. Please distribute the Burglary Prevention Flyer to all residents. If the neighbors see someone suspicious, please call 911 immediately. The locations are as follows:

QUEENS — A car theft spike is being blamed on a hidden key you don't know is in your car — but thieves do.

Police are linking the thefts in Forest Hills to valet keys that are kept in the owner's manuals of many new cars.

They are meant to be used by valet parking attendants.

“A lot of car owners don’t realize they have that key in their owner’s manual,” said Captain Robert Ramos, the 112th Precinct's commanding officer at the precinct’s community council meeting Wednesday.

And car thieves have been preying on that, said Ramos, who called the method “pretty unsophisticated.”

“They are basically walking up and down the street trying door handles to see if the cars are unlocked,” Ramos said.

Once inside the car, they check the glove box, take the valet key and drive away, he said.

The keys, which are typically shorter than the primary key — or are the only key in the case of cars with keyless entry — can be used to open the door and start the vehicle, although they can’t unlock the trunk or the glove box, police said.

Several cars have recently been stolen this way in the 112th Precinct, which covers Forest Hills and Rego Park, police said.

From Aug. 22 through Sept. 18, the total number of cars stolen in the precinct increased by more than 42 percent — from seven to 10 — compared with the same period last year, according to statistics provided by Ramos.

Ramos also said that on Tuesday officers arrested two men inside a stolen car on Kessel Street who used the valet key to snatch it. Police are now looking for two more suspects who got away, Ramos said.

"If you have a new car from 2010 to the present, check your glove compartment," Ramos warned.

"If the key is in there, make sure you take it out and make sure to lock up the vehicle."

​On September 22, 2016 at approximately 0015 hours, members of our anti-crime team arrested a 26 year old Maspeth resident for breaking into cars at 56 st and Nurge Avenue. This male has 6 prior arrests including Grand Larceny and drug possession.

Starting the week of October 30th, Maspeth, Glendale and Middle Village will receive organics collection twice per week on both trash collection days. One of our Elmhurst members was nice enough to pass this information along to us.

A twice a week pickup for organics should help with leaf collection this fall.

On September 21, at approximately 0425 am, the Deli located located at 71-01 Grand Avenue was robbed by two masked males who pistol whipped the owner and removed USC (US currency). The detective squad is currently investigating this incident. We are currently investigating that these individuals might have committed a similar robbery in Manhattan the same day.

Yesterday, September 21st, BOTH apartments were burglarized in a two-family house on 73rd Place/57th Avenue.TWO homes next to each other were burglarized this past Saturday on 72nd Street/57th Avenue. All four of these burglaries occurred after 4:45 pm and in all the cases windows were left open.